Abstract

Relationships between culture, well-being and health have for some years been a subject for debate and reflection in Emilia-Romagna region. This contribution deals with the most significant projects aimed at the various therapeutic experiences, carried out with the support of the Emilia-Romagna government, in the field of the performing arts, the cultural sector most concerned with the topics discussed in these pages. Three cultural activities in particular are reviewed: the well-structured comprehensive project Theater and Mental Health, the House of Awakening - dealing with people coming out from coma - and the training courses for clowns involved in social work, mostly in the hospitals, developed by the University of Bologna, that also awarded the honorary degree to Hunter «Patch» Adams and to Miloud Oukili.